Fruitfulness - the outcome of Love! For as long as I can remember, fruitfulness is a Bible subject that has been avoided as much as possible and over which there has been much confusion; so, what is fruitfulness? Firstly let’s see the importance of it, for Jesus requires us to be fruitful; in His Upper Room ministry, He says – I have chosen you to be fruitful, John 16:16 - it is the whole purpose of His decision to call us to be His disciples. Interestingly, He does not specify what the fruit would be, that is left to Paul and the other writers later. In the Vine Address, John 15:1-17, Jesus does tell us how to be fruitful and that is vital, more vital than knowing what the fruit is! He says – abide in Me and you will bear fruit, much fruit, fruit that will last! So what does He mean by – abiding? The Strong’s Dictionary defines it as - a primary verb; to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy): - abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry – I like the sense of ‘a state of expectancy’! That’s essential! If there is one way to describe a Christian life, this is it – a state of expectancy – with excitement thrown in! Each morning the Christian will wake up and throw back the curtains and say – Perhaps today! –soon that will be the title of a paper and we will see that an expectancy of Jesus’s imminent return for us is vital. Alongside that there will be the thought – OK Lord, what’s on today? – There will be a sense of excitement as to what will happen today as we live for Jesus, as we live in love. If ever there was a ‘beautiful life’, this is it! And the simple recipe for success is – to abide in Jesus! – that’s all! The problem is that everything around and within us is in total opposition to that happening! Around us we have the ‘world principle’, which dances before us so appealingly, continually. This is particularly hard for our young people, oh yes, the world is an alluring place in so many ways. We’re talking especially about materialism, the obsession with – stuff! It makes us desire things that we don’t need, that we can’t afford, and we only buy to impress people we don’t even like! It’s culture that wraps around us like ivy on a wall and it sucks the life out of us! If we do not overcome, we lose our life, we are not living Christian life, if the world has got us in its clutches. Then within there is the flesh nature, oh what an ugly beast that is and until we conquer it, there can be no life or fruitfulness, never mind how much we are involved in church or missions. Finally there is the pride principle, the great perpendicular ‘I’, me, my ego, what I am! To conquer this, the Bible talks about crucifixion, no less! If we are to be fruitful then every day there will be a battle, every morning we must win it, so that we can abide in Jesus, in Him alone there is a Christian life, it is Jesus living through our life. In Christ alone! This is the great truth, sin has been broken, it has no power over us, unless we allow it! Sadly we give in too often and say – oh well, that’s the way I am, I can’t help it, I can’t be any different! – that’s the greatest of all lies, straight from the pit! So we are beginning to see what it means to abide, we will have to live in Jesus, to live in love, and don’t forget, love is the greatest power in the world – it never fails! Of course, we are talking about the Spirit filled life which must be the goal of every child of God. In every believer there will be a deep desire to know God, to please God and to worship Him. But sadly that desire can be quenched! We have spoken of the world, the flesh and the pride principle, but we must remember that these enemies have many disguises and one of the most successful is - church! Many believers find themselves in churches that are totally bound up in a culture of traditions and deceptions that are so strong that they can bind believers into barrenness for centuries! Now I have used another word, the opposite of fruitfulness, which again, few church people, especially leaders, want to think about – barrenness! - Fruitfulness and barrenness, they actually sound opposite, don’t they? In the western world most churches are characterised by barrenness; that is seen in decreasing congregations, cold formality, the lack of leadership, by the lack of young people, even by derelict buildings! You know what I mean! So what is fruitfulness, thankfully Paul specifies it - the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. Gal 5:22,23. The Spirit? This is the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer as He energises and enables the believer’s New Nature; it’s the Spirit filled life and it produces, quite naturally and abundantly this wonderful nine-fold fruit. Remember 1=9 & 9=1! I often refer to this! Recently we also discovered the 10th Amendment – holy boldness! This is a Christian life! This is it, there’s no more, for this is all there can be – the Abundant Life, John 10:10. This is spiritual maturity! 1Cor 13:10. But beware, even this can be lost; very easily! Satan will throw everything at you when you become the worshiper Father delights in; everything! Fruitfulness ensures that you are forwarding the Kingdom of God and that means that Satan’s kingdom is taking a real bashing and he doesn’t like that and you will become a prime target! But don’t worry, after the great description of the Spirit filled life in Ephesians 5:19 to 6:9, Paul explains that we will need to put on the armour of God to maintain the Spirit filled life, for that alone keeps Satan off our backs! This is what is needed in our churches – LJP, love joy peace! When LJP characterises our churches then it will have a great impact on our communities; revival always leads to awakening! Revival of Christian lives in our churches will lead to the final aspect of fruitfulness – many converts! The ‘fruit’ of fruitfulness will be lots of converts! Now don’t give me the ‘End Times’ nonsense, this is God at work and nothing, no nothing, can stop Him! Grace super-abounds! Come on! These are spiritual principles and they work, very well! Don’t let anyone deceive you, this is Christianity; this is how it works and nothing can stop it! Church leaders will try to deceive you, if you become fruitful for God, they will be the first people to put a damper on you, because you will be showing them up big time! Just like Jesus and the Sanhedrin! And if its not your church leaders, it will be secular authorities, but even they can’t stop fruitfulness. The church in North Korea is the perfect example of this, every time they kill a Christian, ten more ‘pop up’ in their place; oh yes, it’s a strong church in Korea; despite the Death Camps! Determine today that you will do everything possible to be fruitful, don’t let anyone get in your way; allow Jesus to live in you and you will bear much fruit that will last for eternity!
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 03:44:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015